Yet more daffodils!

We think the big orange and yellow ones in the first two photos were some of Rodney Ward’s specially bred Scillonian daffodils that Aunt Nan bought many many years ago. They were very expensive then but we don’t know the name of the cultivar. They make me think of Oranges and Lemons with their bright orange trumpet and lemon yellow petals. The bulbs themselves are happily growing and blooming under our apple trees. This vase of flowers packs sufficient punch to fill our Gallery with perfume. (Photos 1 & 2)

I think the third photo must be an old daffodil because lots of these bloom in the hedgerows at this time of year. It has a very long trumpet and the outer petals are twisted instead of flat. It also smells lovely as do many of the older varieties.

Photo four is one of the latest daffodils to flower in our garden every year. Again its a clump growing underneath one of our apple trees. It packs a LOT of petals into its double bloom and has a pleasant but not overpowering scent.

Photo five is our ‘sardine’ daffodils – a couple of years back, we dug this clump of daffodils out of the garden and, not having anywhere to put them, dumped them into the nearest pot. They’ve bloomed twice in this pot and the bulbs must be VERY cramped. But they flower on regardless :-) The pot was on the patio when this photo was taken but I’ve since moved it closer to the house so customers to our gallery can enjoy the flowers.

I haven’t got space for a photo of the Tete a Tete dwarf narcissi that I’ve got growing in a hefty terracotta pot but they’re just coming into flower and look wonderful.

Narcissus in all their forms (large trumpets, multifloras, tazettas, jonquils etc) are grown as a crop by island farmers in tiny fields protected from the wind and wind-blown sand by tall pittosporum hedges. They are picked in tight bud, packed in boxes and held in a chill facility just below the airport from where they are loaded onto flights to the mainland for onward shipping to Covent Garden in London.

The island flower producers are currently gearing up for Mothering Sunday which is late this year – April 3rd (almost as late as it can be) because it is always the fourth Sunday of Lent. The US and many other countries won’t be celebrating their Mothers Day until May.

I didn’t know that Mother’s Day was on a different day, or that you even celebrated it. It always seemed such a commercial holiday, like father’s day and grandparents day, that I assumed it was a US only thing. Completely off topic: am i the only one to find grandparents day redundant? After all, if you are a grandparent then you must also be a parent and will get celebrated on mother’s or father’s day.

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